University of Wisconsin-Madison UW Madison Public Course Search API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: UW-Madison Public Course Search UW Madison Public Course Search API
  version: '1'
  description: 'The JSON API behind UW-Madison''s public course and section search at https://public.enroll.wisc.edu/search. It is operated by the University of Wisconsin-Madison Office of the Registrar / DoIT on the institution''s own enroll.wisc.edu host, requires no authentication, and is the institution''s only openly callable course-catalog surface.


    This document is PROBED, not published. UW-Madison does not publish an OpenAPI for this API; every path, parameter and response field below was observed in a live request made on 2026-08-19 and is recorded only to the extent it was actually verified. Fields the probe did not exercise are deliberately absent rather than guessed.'
  contact:
    name: UW-Madison Office of the Registrar
    url: https://registrar.wisc.edu/
servers:
- url: https://public.enroll.wisc.edu/api/search/v1
  description: Public production course search (no authentication)
tags:
- name: UW Madison Public Course Search API
paths:
  /:
    post:
      summary: Search courses for a term
      description: 'Full-text course search scoped to one term code. Verified live: returns a `found` total and a `hits` array of course documents.'
      operationId: searchCourses
      requestBody:
        required: true
        content:
          application/json:
            schema:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/CourseSearchRequest'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Search results
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/CourseSearchResponse'
        '400':
          description: Malformed or missing request body
      tags:
      - UW Madison Public Course Search API
components:
  schemas:
    CourseSearchResponse:
      type: object
      properties:
        success:
          type: boolean
        message:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        found:
          type: integer
          description: Total matching courses.
          example: 226
        hits:
          type: array
          items:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/CourseHit'
    CourseHit:
      type: object
      description: Field set observed in live responses. Types are inferred from observed values; only field names are directly verified.
      properties:
        termCode:
          type: string
        courseId:
          type: string
        subject:
          type: object
        catalogNumber:
          type: string
        title:
          type: string
        description:
          type: string
        minimumCredits:
          type: number
        maximumCredits:
          type: number
        creditRange:
          type: string
        firstTaught:
          type: string
        lastTaught:
          type: string
        typicallyOffered:
          type: string
        currentlyTaught:
          type: boolean
        gradingBasis:
          type: string
        repeatable:
          type: string
        honors:
          type: string
        levels:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
        breadths:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
        generalEd:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        coreGeneralEducation:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        ethnicStudies:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        foreignLanguage:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        sustainability:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        workplaceExperience:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        lettersAndScienceCredits:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        openToFirstYear:
          type: boolean
        gradCourseWork:
          type: boolean
        approvedForTopics:
          type: boolean
        topics:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
        advisoryPrerequisites:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        enrollmentPrerequisites:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        courseRequirements:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
        courseDesignation:
          type: string
        courseDesignationRaw:
          type: string
        fullCourseDesignation:
          type: string
        fullCourseDesignationRaw:
          type: string
        allCrossListedSubjects:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
        academicGroupCode:
          type: string
        catalogPrintFlag:
          type: boolean
        instructorProvidedContent:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
        lastUpdated:
          type: integer
          format: int64
        catalogSort:
          type: string
        subjectAggregate:
          type: string
    CourseSearchRequest:
      type: object
      required:
      - selectedTerm
      properties:
        selectedTerm:
          type: string
          description: Term code from GET /terms.
          example: '1266'
        queryString:
          type: string
          example: computer science
        filters:
          type: array
          items:
            type: object
        page:
          type: integer
          example: 1
        pageSize:
          type: integer
          example: 2
        sortOrder:
          type: string
          example: SCORE
x-operator: institution
x-provenance:
  generated: '2026-08-19'
  method: probed
  source: https://public.enroll.wisc.edu/api/search/v1
  note: 'Reverse-described from live unauthenticated responses. Not a UW-Madison publication and must never be counted as one. Probes: GET /terms (200, 499 bytes, 2 terms), GET /aggregate (200, 127,065 bytes), POST / (200, term 1266 "computer science" -> found=226; term 1272 -> found=932).'